The General Product Safety Regulation covers consumer products sold in the EU, online and offline. It is the baseline: many product groups also have their own sector rules on top of it, and some, such as medicinal products, are exempt.
Someone in Europe has to answer for the product
A manufacturer based outside the EU must have an economic operator established in the EU for its products: an importer, an authorised representative or a fulfilment service provider. That operator checks that the technical documentation exists and can be provided, cooperates with market surveillance authorities and is their point of contact. For a brand entering Europe, choosing this operator is a commercial decision as much as a legal one.
What every online listing must show
- Who is behind it. The manufacturer's name or trade name and contact details, and the details of the responsible person in the EU, where the manufacturer is based outside it.
- What it is. Information that identifies the product, including a picture of it.
- How to use it safely. Any warnings and safety information, in a language consumers can easily understand, as determined by the country where the product is sold.
Online marketplaces have their own duties, including registering on Safety Gate, the EU's rapid alert system for dangerous non-food products, and naming a single point of contact.
A brand that sets up its EU responsible person and product information properly before launch saves itself the delistings, delays and partner questions that otherwise arrive in the first months.
Our viewA short checklist
- Confirm which EU rules apply to each product, starting with the GPSR and any sector rules.
- Decide who will be your economic operator in the EU and put the responsibilities in writing.
- Prepare product identification, warnings and instructions in the languages of your first markets.
- Check that every marketplace and web shop listing shows the required information.
- Agree how complaints, incidents and recalls would be handled, before they happen.